


Inventing

by mosvalsky



Category: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 06:44:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1930614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosvalsky/pseuds/mosvalsky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was in fact much harder to figure out something for a machine to do than to figure out how to make a machine to do something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inventing

Mr. Wonka stood unmoving in the inventing room, leaning forward on his striped cane, his gaze fixed piercingly on the wall and his lips slightly pursed. He was thinking something up. 

Normally, Charlie would just let him be so as not to disturb his creative process, but the chocolatier had been staring into space for several hours now and he was beginning to wonder if something was wrong.

"Mister Wonka," Charlie tried softly. No reply. So he tried again, louder and more forcefully, "Mister Wonka?"

"Oh," he finally answered, his eyes still locked on the one spot, "Hi Charlie!" 

"What are you thinking about so deeply?" He asked, relieved at least that he caught his attention.

Mr. Wonka's face lit up and he turned to Charlie suddenly. "Let me show you!"

With a swoosh of velvet, he turned back the other way, facing an odd piece of machinery Charlie hadn't seen before. He pressed a button on it that made some grinding noises, followed by typical mechanical noises, but nothing else seemed to happen. 

"What does it do?" The boy asked.

"I'm not sure yet!" Wonka answered excitedly. He was far more exuberant than usual, and much more so than the situation granted, but Charlie enjoyed seeing him like this. It warmed him up inside knowing that after all the years of doing what he does, he still gets excited about every new contraption he thinks up. And seeing him smile so genuinely warmed him in another manner as well.

"So what did you build it for?" Charlie pressed further, wondering whether he would get a real answer, but not minding too much if he didn't.

"I'm not sure yet, either. But that's what I've been trying to think of..." He began to resume his earlier posture, his eyes already unfocusing. Charlie knew he would have to say something then if he didn't want the whole ordeal to begin again.

"Would you like some help?" Charlie asked brightly. Mr Wonka gave no immediate reply, just staring out again, and it began to make him nervous. But soon enough, he smiled again and answered, "What a marvelous idea! With both of us thinking it'll only take half the time!" 

Charlie nodded, assuming his own thinking pose as he leaned against the machine, sliding down it slightly as he slumped against it. He briefly worried he might be sitting against a button that would set something off, but that fear was immediately put to rest as he remembered that nothing on the machine actually did anything.

The two of them stood there for a very long time, thinking very hard about anything they could think of. It was in fact much harder to figure out something for a machine to do than to figure out how to make a machine to do something.

For a while it seemed like they were never going to figure out a use for it. But right as Charlie began to wonder if all the thinking was useless, Wonka exclaimed, "I've got it!"

But, his hope diminished again as he continued, "no, wait. No..."

He sighed heavily, sliding all the way down to the floor and resting his head back on the metal of the contraption they were spending so much time thinking about. Wonka quickly caught on and followed him to the ground, frowning in frustration at his inability to come up with the answer. 

But right as the two of them were about to give up, an idea popped into Charlie's head.

"Singing chocolate!" He cried, startling Mr Wonka, who was nearly looking half-asleep at this point.

"I mean, it wouldn't really sing," Charlie elaborated, "but when you ate it, it would cause a song to enter your head that would sound just as if it were coming from the radio!"

Wonka looked thrilled. "Wonderful, Charlie!" He clapped him on the back, his excitement palpable. "How would it work?"

Charlie shrugged. "Well, no matter," Wonka replied, jumping to his feet. Charlie followed suit, and when he was up, the chocolatier almost looked as if he were going to hug him. He considered it a great achievement, even if the contact never actually happened. 

Wonka looked long and hard at the machine, imagining how to make it fit the purpose Charlie suggested. "You've really got a fantastic mind, you know." Wonka said eventually, breaking his gaze to look at Charlie. "You'll make a great chocolatier, I just know it!" 

"I don't know..." He replied shyly, his eyes meeting the deep violet of Wonka's. "I mean I can think up some ideas, but I can't understand things in nearly the same way that you can."

Wonka frowned, "But Charlie, you don't need my way of thinking. You have yours, which is spectacular in its way!" Charlie looked at him skeptically and he continued, "for example, you have a particular joy about you that I'm incapable of imitating. Since we first met, you've brought such wonderful joy with you to every room of this factory, and I'm constantly grateful that it's your hands the factory is going into someday."

"But Mr Wonka-" Charlie began, but he was cut off.

"And the oompa-loompas have seemed happier too. And I know I personally have been happier. Every time I see you I just get this giddy feeling, and my lungs flutter and I lose all the breath from my heart. And..."

"Mr Wonka!" Charlie said again, determined to pull his attention. 

"And I can't concentrate." He finished quickly, "hmm?" 

Charlie had it all planned out. He was going to respond with something witty and exceptionally well-worded, something that would return Wonka's flattery with something even more lovely. But all he could do now was throw his arms around the candyman, hugging him tightly and delighting in the warmth of his body and the feel of his frame against his own. Wonka returned the embrace only slightly at first, his arms curling around the boy tentatively, but he soon found himself melting into him like a chocolate bar left out in the sun, and he suddenly felt that nothing was as nice as this. 

And when Charlie pressed a kiss to his cheek as he slowly released him, he found himself blushing bright red.

"What was it you were going to say?" Wonka asked at last, trying to compose himself.

Breathless and slightly embarrassed, Charlie replied, "I...I seem to have forgotten." 


End file.
